GHSA-7mqx-wwh4-f9fw · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: npm — Strapi has a rate limit bypass on users-permissions plugin via attacker-controlled email keying
Strapi is an open source headless content management system. In Strapi versions prior to 5.45.0, the rate-limit middleware in the users-permissions plugin derived its rate-limit key in part from `ctx.request.body.email`, including on routes whose body schema does not contain an `email` field (`/auth/local`, `/auth/reset-password`, `/auth/change-password`). An unauthenticated attacker could include an arbitrary `email` value in the request body to obtain a fresh rate-limit key per request, effectively bypassing per-IP throttling on those routes and enabling high-volume credential brute-force, password-reset code brute-force, and credential-stuffing attempts. The rate-limit key was constructed as `${userIdentifier}:${requestPath}:${ctx.request.ip}`, where `userIdentifier = ctx.request.body.email`. On routes that legitimately use email as their identifier (e.g. `/auth/forgot-password`, `/auth/local/register`), this scoping is correct. On routes that use a different identifier (`identifier` for login, `code` for password reset, `currentPassword` for password change), the email field was not part of the route contract, but the middleware still incorporated it into the key, allowing a caller to rotate the value and obtain a unique key on every request. The patch in version 5.45.0 maintains an allow-list of routes that legitimately key on the email field and excludes that key component on every other route the middleware is mounted on. OAuth callback paths (`/connect/*`) are treated identifier-less. On routes outside the allow-list, the middleware now falls back to a fixed identifier-less key, ensuring per-IP throttling remains effective even when the request body is attacker-controlled.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-64526 is rated Low Risk (28/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.01%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-05-22 | 0.06% | 0.01% | -0.05% |
| 2 | 2026-05-20 | 0.05% | 0.06% | +0.01% |
| 3 | 2026-05-15 | — | 0.05% | — |
Full EPSS history (3 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.9 | 4.0 | MEDIUM |
|
— | — | [email protected] |
| 5.3 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
3.9 | 1.4 | [email protected] |
GHSA-7mqx-wwh4-f9fw · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: npm — Strapi has a rate limit bypass on users-permissions plugin via attacker-controlled email keying
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/strapi/strapi/commit/5e0d243cba9830e6f791de6a94798bcde51468db | Patch |
| https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/24818 | Issue Tracking |
| https://github.com/strapi/strapi/releases/tag/v5.45.0 | Patch Product |
| https://github.com/strapi/strapi/security/advisories/GHSA-7mqx-wwh4-f9fw | Vendor Advisory |